When Everything Went Wrong
by TheBaritone
Summary: When a routine mission to a new planet goes wrong, and the worst happens, the lives of the crew of the Enterprise are turned upside down. Uhura finds out she is pregnant, McCoy fights desperately to save his captain. and Chekov must live with the guilt of his mistake.
1. Uhura's Shock

Uhura's POV

It was magical. The way he smiled. The way he looked at me. I liked being with him.

Soon I hated being away.

I found myself looking forward to every moment I would spend with him. Dreading the moment when he would leave.

I fell in love.

I had friends. They would gossip. Talk about who they liked, who they dated.

But I couldn't tell them.

Because it was wrong.

Wrong to love the captain of the Enterprise.

And then I found out he loved me too. Then it became even more wrong.

It started with a cup of coffee. And then another. A smile. A touch. A kiss.

Suddenly it was real.

We kept our relationship a secret. The captain was not supposed to be with his communications officer.

But that was okay.

We were together and that was all that mattered.

And then everything went wrong.

A Saturday evening – if you could call it evening in space. Everything was going as usual. We were going to explore a new solar system – one where no man had gone before. The automatic doors slid open and Jim stepped onto the bridge. He passed me and gave me a brief smile that no one saw but me. He took his seat. "How long before we reach the solar system, Mr. Sulu?"

"Four hours, sir."

He began to record his log. Smiling, I continued with my work. All of the sudden, a wave of nausea overcame me. I slumped in my seat a little. What was wrong with me? It had happened yesterday too. And the day before. No one seemed to notice. Spock glanced at me, but no expression showed on his face.

Four hours later we reached the solar system. "Mr. Spock," said Jim, "what can you pick up about the solar system?"

"The fourth planet is very much like Earth. Nitrogen, carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen in the atmosphere, with traces of argon and neon. Temperature seems to be much lower than Earth's, but tolerable by humans. Sensors even show life forms."

"Alright, Mr. Sulu. Pull into orbit around that planet. A landing party will beam down in the morning."

I soon left the bridge. He followed behind me. It was just the two of us in the small elevator. He took me into his arms and we kissed – a kiss just as magical as every kiss we shared.

I stepped into my quarters three minutes later, my lips still tingling from that kiss. I entered my bathroom, intending to wash up before I turned in. Thirty seconds later I emerged, panic rising in my chest.

I hadn't expected this. I hadn't even thought about the fact that it could happen.

I was pregnant.

Several thoughts ran through my head.

What would I tell the father, when we weren't even supposed to be together? What would I tell everyone else? What would I do? What would I say?

Decisions that were to become even harder.


	2. Kirk's Premonition

Kirk's POV

I woke up one Sunday morning. I sat up, stretched, and fell back onto my bed, smiling – and thinking about her. Uhura. The woman I loved more than any other.

I got up again and climbed out of bed. She was a beautiful woman, I thought. Not to mention intelligent, clever, and brave. I thought of all the time we had spent together, all the times we had touched and kissed. I changed into my uniform, ready to see her on the bridge and spend another day in her company.

I walked through the sliding doors and started on my way to the bridge. When I arrived she was sitting in her usual seat. She turned to look at me as I stepped onto the bridge. As soon as our eyes met she turned away, looking unusually sullen. I ignored it and walked up to Sulu. "I assume we are still in orbit around the fourth planet."

Affirmative"

"Captain," said Uhura. I turned towards her. "We are picking up a distress signal from an earth ship orbiting our colony on Nimbus 4." She seemed to be avoiding my eyes. "They are under attack from the Romulans."

"Mr. Sulu, set course for Nimbus 4." I sat down in my chair. It would probably be another two weeks before we could return to this solar system, with fighting the Romulans, helping rebuild, and who knew what else needed to be done. And that was only if we could defeat the Romulans. Depending on how many ships they had out there, they could be deadly.

I knew it could be very dangerous. But that was what I loved and hated about being a starship captain.

I knew that being captain was all I could ever want. I loved being in command, and the rush of excitement that came with exploring new worlds.

And I knew everything could change in an instant. But I didn't expect it to.

Two weeks later, we were back in the solar system, orbiting the fourth planet. Everything had gone fairly well with the Romulans. Several other Federation ships had arrived and they were badly outnumbered.

I had organized a landing party of Mr. Spock, Mr. Chekov, security officer Rojan, and myself to beam down to the planet's surface and explore. The atmosphere was earth-like, though the planet was on average about twenty degrees cooler than Earth. Sensors had picked up life forms inhabiting the planet. Normally, I would have been excited, but I felt strangely nervous, like premonition. I ignored the feeling and proceeded to the transporter room, where the rest of the landing party was waiting for me.

I joined them on the platform and Scotty beamed us down.


	3. Chekov's Fight

Chekov's POV

I was excited to beam down to the planet. I hadn't left the ship for at least a month and I was starting to get bored. I was nearly skipping on my way down to the transporter room. When I arrived, Spock and Rojan were already there. I eagerly waited for the arrival of Captain Kirk. When he arrived, we all stepped onto the platform and beamed down to the planet.

The planet was definitely chilly. Rojan wrapped his arms around his body to keep warm, but the cold air reminded me of Russia. Spock took out his tricorder. "There seems to be a group of life forms about a quarter mile in that direction," he said, pointing towards my left.

"Alright," said Captain Kirk. "We will go in that direction. Set your phasers to stun."

After we had gone about two hundred yards, Rojan stumbled over something and fell. He stood and picked it up. "Captain," he said. "I've found something."

It was a large stone, shaped like the tip of a spear, only much larger. "Fascinating," said Spock. "This was carefully designed and sharpened. Much like a human weapon from several thousand years ago. Whatever these creatures are, they are fairly intelligent."

"Captain," I said. "I've found a path." It was a trail cut through the thick vegetation, and, judging by its straightness, unnatural.

"Fascinating," said Spock again. "Perhaps these life forms are intelligent."

"Spock, Rojan, continue on towards the life forms you picked up," said Captain Kirk. Chekov and I will find out where this path goes."

Spock nodded and he and Rojan continued towards their destination. I followed Kirk down the path. It had warmed up to about forty degrees, so the snow had melted, making the ground muddy. There wasn't much to see – until I tripped in the middle of the path and looked to see what had caused me to do so. It was a footprint, almost human-like, but fatter and with claws. "Captain!" I exclaimed. "Look at this!"

He knelt on the ground to look then quickly looked up again. "Do you hear that?" he asked. I listened. I heard a deep growl and rustling in the vegetation on the other side of the path. Kirk grabbed my arm and we lunged behind a large rock, hopefully shielding ourselves from the creature. It emerged onto the path and we drew our phasers. It looked kind of like an ape with white fur, and it stood about a foot taller than the average human. "He could be friendly," I whispered.

"Maybe," replied Kirk, "but I wouldn't want to end up in a fight with that thing if it's not."

The creature sniffed the air and started to walk towards us slowly. Kirk carefully held his phaser ready in case it decided to attack, but I didn't want to stay there with that thing any longer. I jumped up and ran. "No! Chekov, it can see you," cried Kirk, too late. I slipped in the mud and the creature lunged at me. It lifted me off the ground in its claws and sank its teeth into my shoulder. I screamed. Kirk couldn't shoot his phaser for fear of hitting me instead of the monster, so he did the only thing left to do. He grabbed a sharp rock and attacked it. He slashed at one of its wrists. Roaring in pain, the creature dropped me and I blacked out for a few seconds. When I came to, it had Kirk in its claws. The fight when on for about thirty seconds, with Kirk struggling to get free and scratching at the creature with the rock, while it tore at him with its teeth and claws. Finally, Kirk managed to scrape the rock deep into its eye. The monster screamed in pain, dropped him, and ran off. Captain Kirk lay on the ground, bloody and unconscious. I tried to stand up, but, in doing so, I put weight on my injured shoulder. The pain raced through my body, and I passed out again.


	4. Spock's Rescue

Spock's POV

After parting with Captain Kirk and Ensign Chekov, Lieutenant Rojan and I continued towards the group of life forms. We walked approximately one quarter mile uphill until we came to a clearing and then a cliff. Looking over the edge, I saw a large group of large white creatures moving around. A few seemed to have had brought meat to the rest of the group, which appeared to be dividing it among themselves. "Fascinating." I turned to Rojan, but he wasn't there. "Lieutenant?"

"Over here." He was standing on the edge of the forest and the clearing. "I found something."

"What is it?"

"It's like a big footprint. There's a whole bunch of them leading into the forest."

I saw something white moving in the bushes. "Lieutenant, be careful."

"What?" The white thing in the bushes was a large ape-like creature and it launched itself at Rojan. I reached for my phaser and attempted to shoot the creature, but I was too late. It took off and disappeared into the forest. I tried to follow it, but it had surprising speed for such a large creature and I quickly lost it. I decided to stop and turn back when I heard the scream. It was distant, but my Vulcan hearing could pick it up. It was Ensign Chekov. I took off running.

I quickly found my way back to the path Kirk and Chekov had taken. I followed it, looking for some sign of either man. Finally on the side of the path I saw someone in a red shirt. "Lieutenant Rojan?"

I walked closer and saw that it wasn't Rojan. It was Captain Kirk, his gold shirt soaked with blood.


	5. Scotty's Horror

Scotty's POV

"Three to beam up. Can you lock on to us?"

"Aye, sir," I replied, nervously. Something in Spock's eternally calm voice told me that something was wrong. Very wrong.

"Have medical personnel stand by. Energize."

Medical personnel!? I set the controls to beam up the landing party and pressed the intercom button. "Transporter room to sickbay."

"Sickbay. McCoy here."

"We need a medical team."

"On our way."

The forms on the transporter pads solidified. Spock stood on the front middle pad, with a barely conscious Chekov on his left and Kirk lying unconscious and covered in blood on his right.

"Spock! What happened?" I cried rushing over to them. Spock did not reply. He knelt down beside Kirk to check his vitals. McCoy and two of his nurses entered the room and McCoy joined him. Chekov stumbled off the platform. "It was my fault," he wailed. "I-I ran a-and..."

"Calm down," muttered McCoy. He injected the ensign with a hypo and he fell silent. "Take him to sickbay," he instructed one of the nurses. "Spock, help me get him on the stretcher."

The three men left, carrying Kirk with them, and leaving me not much clearer as to what had happened. Chekov had said it was his fault. I felt a little protective towards the lad, him being young compared to the rest of the crew. I hated to think that he felt guilty over what had happened to Kirk, even though I knew it was probably an accident.

I feared for the captain's life, and what would happen to Chekov if he died.


	6. Uhura's Fear

Uhura's POV

The landing party returned about two and a half hours after they left. I was sitting at my station monitoring communications as usual, when the lift doors opened. I turned around to see Spock walk in, nodded hello to him, and turned back to my controls. I heard him sit down in the captain's chair, but thought nothing of it until he pressed the intercom button and began to speak.

"This is Commander Spock. I have taken command of this vessel due to unfortunate circumstances on the planet's surface, in which Captain Kirk was injured and made unable to command."

I whirled around in my seat. Spock looked and sounded as calm and unemotional as ever, but I doubted he really felt that way. I stood up. "Spock?"

"Yes, Lieutenant?"

"I request permission to report to sickbay."

"Purpose?"

I hesitated. "I need to see Captain Kirk." I had to know if he was going to be alright.

"There is nothing you can do."

"I know. I-I just need to see him."

Even though Spock's behavior was based totally on logic, he knew ours wasn't. "Very well. I am also going to sickbay. I must speak with Doctor McCoy. Mr. Sulu, you are in temporary command."

Another officer took my station. Spock and I walked into the lift. I was scared. Possibly, Kirk had only suffered a concussion or a wound that would simply take him out of action for a few days. But if that was true, why had Spock gone through the trouble of making that announcement to the rest of the ship. It had sounded like he was going to be in command for a while, or... no, Kirk would be fine.

The doors of the lift slid open and we walked down the corridor to sickbay. I walked in and looked around for Kirk. Then I saw him and my heart broke.


	7. McCoy's Analysis

McCoy's POV

I emerged from my office with the drugs necessary to help Kirk to find Uhura standing next to him. She turned to look at me. The look in her eyes was heartbreaking. "Uhura," I told her, "you're not supposed to be here."

"Will he be alright?"

"I don't know, Uhura, but there's nothing you can do but get in the way, so go back to the bridge."

She turned away and I knew I'd been a little harsh. "Uhura." She turned around again. "I'll let you know."

Uhura nodded gratefully and left. Only then did I notice Spock. "Well Spock, he's not good. I can tell you that much."

"I assumed as much, Doctor. How 'not good' is he?"

"Where to start? He has deep wounds on pretty much every part of his body, lost a ton of blood, broken his left arm and wrist, fractured his right elbow, broken his left leg and ankle, fractured his pelvis, and cracked two ribs. I think he may have a concussion. The only good news is that he escaped serious injury to his spinal cord. I'm surprised he's even alive."

I glanced at the screen. All readings were far below normal. I hadn't had time to do anything but determine what was injured and I quickly set to work, injecting him with the needed hypos and bandaging and splinting what I could. Spock watched me the whole time, but I didn't bother to kick him out. When I had done what I could, I turned back to face him. "What happened down there?"

"I am not sure. Rojan and I separated from Kirk and Chekov. Rojan was carried off by a large ape-like being. I heard Chekov scream and when I found them they were both unconscious. I managed to rouse Chekov, but he was too shocked to tell me anything except that it was his fault. Judging by the footprints on the ground, I can guess that they were also attacked by one of the creatures."

I looked at the ensign's motionless form lying on one of the other bio-beds. "I'll let you know when he wakes up," I told Spock. "We'll have to be careful questioning him though – whatever happened down there probably traumatized him mentally, but we have to know what happened."

"Agreed."

Not being able to do anything more for Kirk, I started to go back to my office, but Spock did not move. "Spock?"

"There is something else I wished to speak with you about."

"What is it?"

"I understand that it may not be my place, but if something were to be wrong and I had not told anyone..."

"Well, what is it, Spock? Spit it out."

"Spit...? Oh, it is about Lieutenant Uhura. She has not seemed well recently."

"Really? What's seemed wrong?"

"I am no expert on human physiology, this may very well be nothing, but she has seemed to have symptoms of nausea and fatigue and has seemed much more emotional."

"How long has this been going on?"

"About three weeks."

"Well, nausea could mean a lot of things, but it seems persistent for a stomach bug or the flu." Something occurred to me. "Unless...tell Uhura to report to sickbay tomorrow morning."

"Do you think something is wrong, Doctor?"

"Nothing fatal, Spock. You'd better get back to the bridge."

Spock nodded and left. I thought I knew what Uhura's problem was.

And a starship was no place to raise a kid.


	8. Chekov's Fault

Chekov's POV

When I woke up with my heart racing and breathing hard, I couldn't remember the dream that had scared me; I just felt thankful that it was over. I opened my eyes and was blinded for a second while my eyes adjusted to the light. The first thing I noticed when my sight returned was that I wasn't in my own bed – I was in... sickbay?

The morning's events came rushing back to me and I sat bolt upright, feeling pain twinge in my shoulder. "Captain...!" I cried. He lay on a bio-bed, unconscious. "Oh no," I murmured, burying my face in the palm of my hand. What had I done? I began to stand up, but a familiar voice snapped, "Get back down there!"

I quickly sat back down. Doctor McCoy entered the room from his office. "I want to check you over again."

"Doctor McCoy, will Captain Kirk be alright!?" I burst out. The doctor looked almost defeated when he answered, "I don't know."

"It's all my fault!" I wailed. "I was a stupid coward and I might have gotten him killed!"

"I take it you know what happened."

I nodded. "There was..."

"Hold on. Spock will need to hear this."

A moment later, Spock walked into sickbay and nodded in greeting. "Mr. Chekov," he said. "Would you please explain the events that took place on the planet."

I began to tell exactly what had happened after the captain and I left Spock and Rojan. When I had finished, McCoy had a shocked expression on his face. "You ran out in the open – in front of that thing!?"

"That was highly illogical of you, ensign," stated Spock.

"I know," I said miserably. "I..." I looked down, not knowing what to say. Nothing could change what I did and nothing could help Kirk. The room became awkwardly silent. Too silent. It took a second for any of us to realize why. Then McCoy's eyes widened and he rushed toward Kirk. I turned, not understanding why. Then I saw. The quiet beeping noise that marked the beat of Kirk's heart was gone.

The next several minutes went by in a blur. McCoy's hands moved like lightning, shocking Kirk's body with electricity, injecting him with hypos, everything he could do to restart his heart. Finally, it was over. He was alive for the moment.

I shook with shock and relief. McCoy's expression showed the same. Spock's showed no expression, but his posture was tenser than usual. "Chekov," the doctor murmured softly, gesturing towards the door, "you can go."

I nodded silently and turned to leave. As I walked out the door, I heard McCoy say quietly to Spock, "He's alright for now, but if his heart stops again, I may not be able to save him."


	9. Uhura's Dilemma

Uhura's POV

I stepped into sickbay the next morning and found Doctor McCoy standing over Jim. The captain looked even worse than he had yesterday. McCoy had drugs draining constantly into him intravenously and his marred face showed no color aside from the scars that crossed it. His chest barely moved and he seemed barely alive. It hurt badly to see him like that. The doctor didn't look great either. I guessed he hadn't slept since the landing party had returned from that catastrophic mission. He didn't seem to notice me enter. "Doctor McCoy?" I asked.

He turned around. "Lieutenant Uhura? What are you doing here?"

"You asked that I report here this morning."

"Oh right." McCoy wasn't usually the forgetful type, but the stress was obviously affecting him. He took out his cylindrical medical scanner and held it in front of my body. "Just like I thought," he muttered. "You're pregnant."

I nodded solemnly. I wasn't really sure how I felt about it. I hadn't wanted to be pregnant, but I wouldn't give up my unborn child for anything.

"Does the father know?" McCoy asked. He knew it wasn't his business, but he had a way of not caring and a way of getting people to tell him anyway. "No. I can't tell him," I said.

"You should,"he replied.

"No, I literally can't," I told him.

"Why not?" I must have glanced at the unconscious captain because he breathed, "Jim?"

"Yes."

"I'm sorry." I said nothing. What could I say? "You can – you can go." I nodded and turned and walked to the door, the remembered the pain on McCoy's face. I turned, wondering if I should say something. McCoy was back standing by Jim's bed. He looked at his best friend's face and murmured, "Why, Jim?"


End file.
